GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Status

Accepted

Abstract

In their article “Compensation for the Convicted Innocent in New Jersey: Problems and Recommended Solutions,” Professors D. Michael Risinger and Lesley Risinger masterfully recount the history and flaws of New Jersey’s Mistaken Imprisonment Act.1 The professors recommend concrete and common-sense amendments to the Act that, if enacted, would resolve statutory ambiguities, remedy bad public policy, and make more generous an Act intended to benefit the wrongfully convicted, but which often falls short of that goal.

This article will provide empirical and comparative context for the Risingers’ proposals. By examining why the claims of exonerees had been denied or never made, this article probes the extent to which these, or other, recommendations might benefit exonerees. Over twenty-five years after the passage of the Mistaken Imprisonment Act (the “MIA” or “Act”), we have sufficient history to evaluate the effectiveness of the Act and to it with that of other states. This article concludes that, on many metrics, the New Jersey statute performs better than most other state wrongful conviction compensation statutes. However, the Act is far from perfect. This data-driven and comparative assessment supports many of the Risinger proposals and may, in addition to their article, serve as a basis for needed reform.

GW Paper Series

2025-16

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